In the crypto market, every great narrative will be reborn once.

This time, the Renaissance has arrived in the “privacy” track.

In just two months, $ZEC soared from $40 to $750 (the price reached around $741 on November 7), an increase of nearly 20 times. The long-dormant privacy narrative has been completely activated, and ZK has once again become the absolute central term in the encryption world.

The price chart of $ZEC looks like a flag, announcing the return of the ZK narrative. However, in this carnival, the smartest money is already stirring, looking for the next ultimate ZK Beta that can carry this wave, and those who choose $PROVE (Succinct) will surely not be in the minority.

Eye of the Storm: Why is the ZK Narrative Making a Full Comeback?

The outbreak of $ZEC is not accidental; it is the result of the convergence of three forces: institutions, communities, and technological trends. We are on the eve of an explosion driven by AI, with a rigid demand for “verifiable computation” and “privacy.”

If you haven't felt the heat of this wave yet, you might have missed the following signals:

l Arthur Hayes “calls”$ZEC —— He publicly stated on X that$ZEC has become the second largest holding of his family fund Maelstrom, and predicted that “$ZEC could rise to $10,000 – $20,000”. The market immediately responded, and the privacy narrative has returned.

The Winklevoss brothers founded Cypherpunk company, aiming to acquire 5% of the $ZEC circulation. They referred to $ZEC as “privacy insurance in the AI era.”

l Institutions and narratives resonate — top venture capital firms like ARK Invest and a16z explicitly state in their reports: ZK is the secure foundation of the AI era.

This is not an isolated market trend, but a narrative revival - the return of privacy, the fusion of AI, and the emergence of ZK.

The real focus is on the market, which has already cast a decisive vote for the “ZK Revival” with the most genuine capital and the most fervent emotions. The question is, how do you place your bet? If $ZEC ignited the emotions, then $PROVE is what turns this wave of enthusiasm into the fuel for infrastructure.

Zcash's Legacy vs $PROVE 's Future: Tesla and TSMC

To understand why $PROVE is a better Beta, we must first understand its fundamental differences with Zcash. I have seen a most exquisite analogy:

If $ZEC is the “Tesla of the privacy ZK track”, then $PROVE is the “TSMC of the entire ZK industry”.

Zcash ($ZEC) is a great pioneer, like early Tesla, demonstrating the amazing potential of ZK technology to the world with a revolutionary product (privacy transactions). But its problem lies here: it is a vertical application.

You buy $ZEC, betting that the “privacy transaction” model will sell well.

Its value capture is strictly confined within its own “privacy pool”.

In contrast, Succinct ($PROVE) is completely different; it is a “chip foundry.” Its SP1 (a groundbreaking zkVM) and Prover Network (prover network) allow any developer to easily “install” ZK proofs for their applications.

$PROVE is a horizontal infrastructure:

It does not bet on a particular path to win. It simply charges all “electric vehicle manufacturers” a “chip fee.”

In every chain, every Rollup, and every AI proof, there is a bill of $PROVE .

Ultimate Beta: Why $PROVE Can Capture the Entire Track?

When the ZK narrative erupted, the rise of $ZEC came from the breakthrough of “privacy”. And the value of $PROVE comes from the comprehensive expansion of the entire ZK market.

l L2 scalability explosion? More than 35 projects, including Polygon, Mantle, and Celo (with a total secured value exceeding 4 billion USD), are using Succinct to generate ZK proofs. They need to pay fees to $PROVE .

l AI verifiable computation? When AI models need to prove their innocence, they require $PROVE to generate ZK proofs.

l Cross-chain bridge security? Celestia and Avail use Succinct to ensure the security of their light client bridges. They require $PROVE.

l Even… new privacy projects? They also need the infrastructure provided by $PROVE to generate proofs.

$PROVE captures the total value of all successful players in the ZK track. Its SaaS (Software as a Service) revenue model—stable, predictable, and with high “stickiness”—makes it the most solid and imaginative value carrier in this ZK renaissance.

As the rise of Zcash ignites the narrative of privacy, Succinct has already been transforming this sentiment into structural value capture.

The value anchor of l $ZEC : it is attached to the volume of privacy transactions and the scale of Shielded Pool usage, with a single source of demand and large fluctuations.

The value anchor of l $PROVE : the computing power demand from the entire ZK ecosystem. It does not provide privacy for a single project, but serves as the underlying engine for “verifiable computation” for all projects.

The comparison of market space is more intuitive: The annualized staking yield of the PoS network exceeds $10 billion. The “encryption security” efficiency provided by ZK proofs is higher and harder to replace—this means that the market size of ZK Proving is approaching or even surpassing Staking itself.

The more critical difference lies in the business model:

l $ZEC depends on trading demand and is highly volatile.

The model of l $PROVE is more like SaaS: long-term, predictable, compound growth.

Once L2s like Polygon or Mantle integrate Succinct into their core stack, it creates infrastructure dependence + high switching costs — they cannot disable the proof system, otherwise the entire network will come to a standstill.

This stickiness implies that $PROVE has the cash flow potential of a “recurring subscription fee”. As L2 transaction volume increases, this value will be amplified exponentially.

The fire of ZK has already illuminated the foundation.

Zcash is the one who ignited the spark - it made the world truly see the power of zero-knowledge proofs for the first time. But today, this flame has transformed from a candlelight into a blaze that can illuminate the entire crypto market infrastructure.

What we are seeing is not just a resurgence of privacy coins, but the beginning of a new era of verifiable computation. Zcash proved that “ZK can do it”; And Succinct ($PROVE) proves that “ZK can be scalable, sustainable, and profitable.”

When the encryption narrative shifts back to hard topics such as “real-world assets on chain”, “AI verifiable computation”, and “cross-chain security”, Emotions will rotate, but the infrastructure will always get the last piece of the cake.

In this great migration from “trust” to “proof,” $ZEC is the starting point of the story, And $PROVE is the main storyline.

It's not about worshipping anyone, but seeing the trend clearly. When the flames of ZK have already reached the foundation, Holding $PROVE means you have already secured your position in the structure of the future.